Bucks Planners Set Capital Need At $38.7 Million

June 18, 1985|by HAL MARCOVITZ, The Morning Call

A new emergency communications center, agricultural building and restoration of various Bucks County parks and facilities are contained in a $38.7-million capital improvements plan drafted by the county planning commission.

The plan lists dozens of projects that the planning commission suggested should be considered for funding during the next six years.

Robert E. Moore, executive director of the commission, said the plan was written in response to a request by the county commissioners to map out the county's needs through the end of the decade.

Moore said the list will be evaluated and projects will be selected for funding. He said he expects many to be rejected.

"When you get down into the fifth and sixth years of the plan, a lot of the things become 'iffy.' We'll have another chance to evaluate them to see if they make sense," Moore said.

Actually, more than $11 million in spending has already been approved for 1985. Approved projects include a $6-million allocation from a bond issue to complete the new Bucks County Correctional Facility, and $5.1 million raised from a 1984 bond issue that is financing several improvements.

Those improvements include purchase of a new telephone system for the courthouse, construction of two new district courts and rehabilitation of the Lower Bucks annex of the county courthouse.

Other projects listed in the plan for 1985 include relocation of the Samuel Pierce Branch of the Bucks County Free Library in Perkasie, $103,000; renovation of an old warehouse at Neshaminy Manor Center in Doylestown Township for conversion into an office building, $850,000; repair of the parking lot at Lake Towhee Park, $47,300, and renovation of the boat ramp at Tinicum Park, $12,100.

Projects that have received preliminary approval from the commissioners are construction of an experimental trash-to-steam plant at Neshaminy Manor next year, $130,000, and construction in 1985 and 1986 of a new center county branch of the Bucks County Free Library, $3.2 million.

Future projects contained in the report include construction of a new emergency communications center, $3.5 million, and construction of a building for county and federal agricultural agencies. The plan said the 15,000-square- foot center would contain the offices of the Bucks County Cooperative Extension Service, U.S. Soil Conservation Service, U.S. Farmers Home Administration and the U.S. Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Office.

The agriculture building is proposed for funding in 1988, and the emergency communications center is listed as a probable project for 1990.

Reconstruction of two bridges in Upper Bucks are listed for funding during the next three years. They include the Clay Ridge Road bridge in Tinicum Township, $490,000, and the Rocky Dale Road bridge, West Rockhill Township, $490,000.

Park projects slated for future funding include $145,000 for road repairs and erection of comfort stations at Tinicum Park; $15,000 for refurbishing of the Erwin-Stover House in Erwinna, and $54,900 for restoration of Stover-Myers Mill in Pipersville.

Also proposed for funding is installation of a climate control system for residential areas at Neshaminy Manor Home, $2 million, purchase of new equipment for the county's crime laboratory, $61,000, and construction of a new district court for the Kintnersville area, $200,000.